Single Review: Operahouse

Genius Child

Released March 30

Camden five-piece Operahouse make dark and intense alternative rock with complex musical arrangements and hints of electronica that place them somewhere on a brorad spectrum between Arcade Fire and Muse. With a new album on the way in April, the boys who brought us last year’s mind-blowing Change In Nature are back with a bigger and badder sound than ever.
Things don’t start particularly big or bad; semi-acoustically in fact. It’s not until the first chorus that we’re treated to the full power of the Operahouse treatment, as a hail of thunderous percussion ushers in one of the band’s most scream-along offerings to date. With a rock steady 4/4 beat and all manner of jingly-jangly things dancing atop some madly infectious guitar riffs, it’s an instant ear-grabber.

Singer Johnny Lloyd’s warble isn’t a million miles from the high-pitched reaches of Brett Anderson; a heaven-sent contrast to the hard, thrashing waves of Genius Child’s monstrous chorus and perfect companion to the delicate melancholy of more refined moments in between. Earthy, stylish and experimental, this should send Operahouse out into the stratosphere – and it could be a sign of even better things to come.